A selection of vintage miniature hats are currently being documented by experts and volunteers at the Leeds Discovery Centre.
And trust us, these hats are really really cute.
From top hats and riding hats to gold trimmed hats and feather trimmed Tudor hats, there's a plethora of historic tiny hats currently undergoing conservation at the Leeds Discovery Centre.
The remarkable range, some of which fit in the palm of a hand, were made by Leeds hatter John Craig in the early 1900s who established his business in the popular shopping district of Park Row.
Image: Leeds City Council
The shop remained there until 1936 before moving to Wellington Street, where it traded until around 1947.
But the hats weren't made for mice to wear, they were originally crafted to show to clients and demonstrate the maker's skill and impressive range of products they could create.
A leaflet from 1927 said John Craig "commenced his business with the ambition of supplying good hats, and as the variety of shapes increased specialising in selecting for his customers the hats of most suitable shape giving especial care to the comfort of the wearer."
Image: Leeds City Council
Natalie Raw, Leeds Museums and Galleries curator of costume, has been working with a group of students from The University of York to document the extent of the John Craig's collection and other objects stored at the Leeds Discovery Centre.
She said: “The quite remarkable variety of shapes, sizes and colours of hats in our collection shows the many different ways they have been worn over the decades, including practically as a status symbol, and sometimes as a flamboyant fashion statement.
Image: Leeds City Council
“These wonderful miniature hats in particular demonstrate the skill and artistry possessed by one traditional Leeds hatmaker and the pride he clearly took in his work. It’s fascinating to think of each of them carefully and meticulously made in the workshop and then proudly shown to potential customers.
“We’re fortunate to have such an extensive collection to go through and it’s been so rewarding to find out more about the history behind these beautiful, stylish creations.”
The tiramisu hype lives on, and this time it's coming to Leeds.
It really does feel like the traditional Italian dessert has taken the world by storm as of late.
Everything from tiramisu cups and tiramisu coffees have been popping up all over our feed, and now tiramisu in drawer form is popping up in the city centre.
Misu Tiramisu is an independent business that began at Manchester's Christmas Markets and quickly became one of the most popular operators, all thanks to its miniature tiramisu ‘drawers’.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
The individually portioned and colourfully packaged desserts quickly became one of town’s top puddings, and owners Aleem and Aishah went on to launch a stand inside the Manchester Arndale too.
And now they’re branching out again in Leeds inside Trinity shopping centre for a two month residency.
You’ll find all their delicious flavours of handmade tiramisu, including classic, pistachio, chocolate, Biscoff, mango, and lemon - they'll also have some gluten-free tiramisu on offer as well, so no one has to miss out.
Images: The Hoot Leeds
Misu Tiramisu owners Aleem and Aishah spent a year refining the recipe for their tiramisus after a trip to Milan, first launching with their first market stall in Sale.
Misu Tiramisu is now open inside Trinity shopping centre opposite Boots Opticians and Pop Specs.
They're open every day of the week for you to get your tiramisu fix, from 9am to 8pm Monday to Saturday and from 11am to 5pm on a Sunday.
And trust us Leeds, they're just as delicious as they are adorable.
Fossilised 320-million-year-old fish found in Leeds’ Roundhay Park
Clementine Hall
A prehistoric fish fossil has been unearthed at Roundhay Park in Leeds.
The fascinating prehistoric skull bone of a coelacanth fish was discovered by a geologist at Roundhay Park earlier this year.
It is thought the creature was frozen in time aeons ago, during an era when the park was submerged under a vast tropical lagoon.
The remarkable discovery has now been kindly donated to Leeds Museums and Galleries and added to the natural sciences collection at Leeds Discovery Centre.
Image: Leeds City Council
The Leeds fossil was found by Ru Smith of the Yorkshire Geological Society during a reconnaissance walk he was carrying out ahead of a planned field excursion in the north Leeds park.
Describing the moment he made the discovery, Ru said: “There’s a layer of rock in the park which dates from around 320 million years ago, from a time before the breakup of the continents, when what is now the park would have been situated close the Equator and under the warm waters of a tropical lagoon. West Central Africa would be a good place to find similar environments in the present.
“There’s a bed of freshwater mussels called Carbonicola at one level in the rock, and opening a piece of shale from this bed in my hands I saw something unusual – a distinctive skull bone of a large fish. I knew straight away this was something different and very rare."
The bone was verified byexperts as belonging to a coelacanth older than those found elsewhere in Yorkshire, making it the oldest fossil coelacanth discovered in the region.
Ru added: “Coelacanths are pretty amazing fish and it’s just very cool to think that at one time, you could have been standing in Leeds and watching them swim around above a bed of mussels in Roundhay Park.
“That’s really the wonder of geology, looking at the rock and time travelling in the imagination to what was a very different world.”
Clementine Hall -
19th March 2024 
